The Advertisements, As I Have Said, Such As Were Serious,
And Not Of The Modern Quack Kind, Suggested Pleasing And Poetic
Thoughts; For Commerce Is Really As Interesting As Nature.
The
very names of the commodities were poetic, and as suggestive as
if they had been inserted in a pleasing poem, - Lumber, Cotton,
Sugar, Hides, Guano, Logwood.
Some sober, private, and original
thought would have been grateful to read there, and as much in
harmony with the circumstances as if it had been written on a
mountain-top; for it is of a fashion which never changes, and as
respectable as hides and logwood, or any natural product. What
an inestimable companion such a scrap of paper would have been,
containing some fruit of a mature life. What a relic! What a
recipe! It seemed a divine invention, by which not mere shining
coin, but shining and current thoughts, could be brought up and
left there.
As it was cold, I collected quite a pile of wood and lay down on
a board against the side of the building, not having any blanket
to cover me, with my head to the fire, that I might look after
it, which is not the Indian rule. But as it grew colder towards
midnight, I at length encased myself completely in boards,
managing even to put a board on top of me, with a large stone on
it, to keep it down, and so slept comfortably. I was reminded,
it is true, of the Irish children, who inquired what their
neighbors did who had no door to put over them in winter nights
as they had; but I am convinced that there was nothing very
strange in the inquiry.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 196 of 422
Words from 54035 to 54320
of 116321
